Blacktail Deer Plateau of star & sea

Old habits died hard, even ones she had, before now, thought already dead.  She'd tossed her crown aside and vowed never to pick it up again, sure that a captain's pride had been her downfall all these times before.  But now she felt the old blood thrumming as they challenged and it was intoxicating.  She couldn't deny that a part of her that had been missing, torn away, hidden beneath, was now breathing fresh air and clawing to the surface.  

It made her loathe to stop, even when Aningan and Raleska stood and demanded it.  For a split second, she had the instinctual thought - challenge - but then Erzulie relented.

That wasn't her place.  Rusalka was not hers, and so long as her family remained a part of its backbone, she was content.  She shoved the feeling that curled up back down, away and beneath once more.  Then Rosalyn too dipped her head to Aningan, but the gaze she turned on the sisters was cold and righteous.

They did not deserve quarter, so she hadn't given it.  Now they knew where things stood, and that was the goal here.  Her words still stood.  If she caught a whiff of disloyalty, or a whisper that they sought her wife's place (or her own), she would not hesitated. And next time, there would be no posturing.